An Amtsgericht (District Court) in Germany is an official court. These courts form the lowest level of the so-called ´ordinary jurisdiction´ of the German judiciary (German Ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit), which is responsible for most criminal and civil judicial matters. The German Amtsgericht may be compared to the magistrates´ courts in England and Wales, although it has much broader sentencing powers. Its name derives from the Amt as a denomination for an administrative and court district in many of the territories of the Holy Roman Empire.
The main areas of an Amtsgericht´s jurisdiction are:
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